Stuffy shell

Hasn't man always, throughout history, been seeking for protection against a threatening outside world ? Even in the contemporary, we still build walls, fences, hedges around us. We create formulas of ‘Safe havens’, designed to take away deeply rooted fears and insecurities, while providing a perfect illusion (of self-protection). 'Stuffy shell’ reflects on this human inclination. There is so much visual narrative to be found in the way we build, the way we domesticate the landscape. This results in uncanny images: bizarre, surreal and frightening ... an unintended contradiction? In this series we see a carving conifer 'protecting' a villa, a hand pulling a concealing curtain into a row of houses with piercing triangular facades, a crazy sealed caravan, a house without windows and decorated with barbed wire… Trees as threatening hands behind concrete screens. A ‘hairy’ watchtower?